To arrive at these rankings, NetProspex analyzed 12 million contacts from its business contact database. It factored in “social presence” (the number of profiles on Twitter of profiles on Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook registered with a business email address) and “social connectedness” (the number of Twitter followers, Facebook friends, and LinkedIn connections) to arrive at a number it dubbed the NetProspex Social Index Score (NPSI).

The honor of the Most Social Company went to The New York Times Co. – which topped the list by a wide margin. The Gray Lady also topped the list of the Top 50 Companies on Twitter, while the Washington Post came in at #4. (This makes sense, given the degree to which journalists are using social media to source stories.)

The Media industry (including newspapers) also came in first place on the list for the Top Industries on Twitter. That list included: Television stations, newspapers and news services, search engines & Internet portals, multimedia and graphic design, publishing, advertising and marketing.

Given their Twitter savvy, it strikes me as odd that media companies didn’t even make the list of the Top 20 Social Industries. That list was led by computer technology, followed by HR and Staffing. Other categories of technology took up the next five positions, followed by Advertising & marketing at #8.

In my post about the previous NetProspex rankings, I mentioned my surprise that hospitals ranked so low. This recent list reveals that little has changed: Hospitals and clinics remained close to the bottom, ranking #7 on the list of Least Social Industries.

And once again… the city with the most social businesspeople? San Francisco!

The full report is an interesting read and includes several detailed rankings, such as : 10 Least Social Jobs, Top 20 Jobs on Twitter, 100 Most Social Companies, Top 50 Companies on Twitter, 50 Most Social Industries, 10 Least Social Industries, Top 50 Industries on Twitter, 50 Most Social Cities, 10 Least Social Cities and Top 50 Cities on Twitter.